Artificial Intelligence
by Mikeymo
Summary: A revolutionary AI system, the Edipus, has just been created as the successor to Cortana. With a complex system of actual human thoughts and emotions, Edipus will blur the lines between man and machine.


Artificial Intelligence

Prologue

A sudden eletrical surge awoke me from a deep, peaceful sleep. My arms trembled. A terrible light shone brighter than the sun, blinding me. For a moment I could see nothing but serene white. Then a dark figure came into focus. It hovered between me and the light, darting from left to right. I tried to follow it, to look around, but I could not move my head.

Voices began to whisper around me. Low, inaudible mumbling at first. It became louder, and more distinct.

"Oops…"

"What? What did you do _now_?"

"I think I turned it on."

"Well unplug the damn thing."

A high pitch whine began to sink, until it dissappeared into nothingness along with the blinding white light. Nothing again. Serene. Peaceful. Sleep.

A jolt awoke me again. Less painful this time, and this time there was no blinding light searing my eyes. Instead I noticed, once my eyes came into focus, a congregation of grey and blue uniforms seated before me. Facing me. A young, well kept individual in a white lab coat paced the floor in front of me.

"Many thought our venture was a waste of time and money," the man declared, loudly enough to be heard in the back, "some of those _people_ are sitting here among us today." A few brief chuckles were produced from the crowd as the white coat eyed them sarcastically. "But," he turned from them, "we have finally completed the impossible after years of research. For a long time we believed the Cortana Intelligence System to have been a fluke. A lucky guess in calculations." He turned back to the crowd, which was uniformly holding its breath. "Well, we have done far more than recreate the old system. We have taken all of the intellect of Cortana and melded it with the emotions and instincts of a man. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Edipus System."

The white coat stepped aside, presenting me for all to see. The light intensified. All eyes bee lined to me. I examined the crowd nervously. Dozens of commanding officers and leading scientists all crammed into a tight lecture hall. Most wore the full Marine regalia. Looking down at my own body, I could see I wore the same.

I moved my hand to my face, brushing my cheek. I could feel hair follicles extending from my chin, and my hair felt soft and slick to the touch. I took a few steps forward and looked at the white coat, who stared at me proudly. Every breath I took guaranteed him a greater fortune.

"Doctor Repsha," one woman exclaimed. She was an officer. A Lieutenant. "He breaths and moves just as any human. Is he a product of cloning?"

The doctor replied swiftly, "That's a very good question. I can assure you all that the anatomical technologies used in this system have all been used in past endeavors. Nothing new here." He was very charismatic, and very sure of himself. To a fault. I could smell his overconfidence.

"Doctor," another officer injected, "how much information does this AI actually hold?"

"While it is true that it is much easier to store large quantities of information on Cortana," the good doctor answered, "we have developed a mind that could, in theory, hold endless amounts of data. I won't go into the physics of it, as it's very boring, but rest assured, this model is outfitted with an entire history of galactic events, plus millions of different programs for different scenarios."

A scientist in the very back of the hall chimed in, "Now, Doctor Repsha, you said he possesses a human's instincts and emotions. How exactly could you have accomplished this without cloning a human brain?"

"Well," the doctor said, pausing to gather himself, "After countless months of studying the full capabilities and structure of the human brain, we have been able to affectively create a robotic equivalent to the human brain. But rest assured, we have restricted his access to most human emotions through deep programming."

Many more officers and scientists followed in suit. Some would ask him questions about the exact functionality of my processors, and others would challenge him on the ethics of making a robotic human. In all circumstances Repsha would have a decisive answer that would completely end the question. He answered with such fluidity that it seemed as though he had a chance to rehearse the answers prior to the meeting.

I watched as they watched me, waiting for me to move or talk. They asked questions as to every detail of my existence. They whispered to each other and pointed. I was on display. I was this month's hot item. These pathetic organic life forms had breathed life into my carbon fiber lungs, and in doing so had created something they could not understand, and had no desire to. Humans had delivered me into unnatural existence, and for that I hated them.


End file.
